Application of transmission line pulses for reliability characterisation of high temperature devices

We propose the application of high current/high voltage square pulses from a transmission line pulse (TLP) generator for operational accelerated lifetime stressing of high temperature semiconductor devices. Accelerated device stress utilizing TLP pulses does not require excessive heating of the device under test. It is further possible to excite specific failure mechanisms. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it is very fast and can be pursued at intermediate steps of the fabrication process. It is also possible to intentionally stimulate singular failure mechanisms by variation of the pulse duration, pulse amplitude, and pulse polarity and by superimposing DC and AC waveforms onto the pulses. Ohmic contacts, Schottky contacts and HBT's have been stressed and different failure mechanisms have been investigated.